(Credit: Royal Opera House)

On Oct. 5, 2021, the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme will kick off their “Meet the Young Artists Week 2021,” celebrating 20 years of the acclaimed program.

Among the events are two “Jukebox” concerts on Oct. 5 and 8, with the artists performing three contrasting pieces and the audience able to vote for their favorites. Selections will draw from lighthearted folk songs to tragic arias, with the winning selections comprising the program for the concert on Oct. 8. These concerts will feature sopranos April Koyejo-Audiger and Alexandra Lowe; mezzo Stephanie Wake-Edwards and Kseniia Nikolaieva; tenors Thando Mjandana, Alan Pingarron, and Egor Zhuravskii; and bass Blaise Malaba.

Next, on Oct. 6, there will be two concerts. The first will celebrate women composers, with JPYA Artistic Director David Gowland accompanying some of the previous day’s artists in a program comprised of works from Isabella Colbran, Nkeiru Okoye, Judith Weir, Nadia Boulanger, and Clara Schumann. Later that evening will be a musical exploration of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, with JYPA repetiteurs Michael Sikich and Michael Papadopoulos being joined in conversation by celebrated British bass Brindley Sherratt, Susanna Stranders from the Royal Opera House staff, and JPYA alumnus Darren Jeffery. Soprano Anita Watson will performance the selections.

The following night will see a showcase titled “Britten Goes International.” Gowland, Papadopoulos, and Sikich will accompany the Young Artists. The week will conclude on Oct. 9 with their “Alumni Concert,” featuring returning artists from the last two decades, such as sopranos Anna Devin and Susanna Gaspar; mezzo Hongni Wu; tenors Luis Gomez; and baritone Michel de Souza. They will be joined by alumni accompanists Patrick Milne and Susanna Stranders in a program of Mozart, Verdi, Donizetti, Bizet, and Handel.